Security measures?

Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:11 pm
  #1  
Katyjane
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Default Security measures?

A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun via
Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email instructing
him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).

He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I ever
have. He's just come back from Brazil and wasn't asked when he booked
that flight. Is this something new that all airlines are asking for,
or is it an Air Canada thing? Or a Canadian thing? Are they asking
everybody, or just people with Muslim-sounding names? (he's of Indian
origin - although his name is fairly obviously Hindu to anybody with a
smidgin of knowledge about Indian names).

He deliberately avoids flights via the USA because of the kind of
hassle his nephews have experienced there. Are the authorities in
Canada likely to give him particular grief because of his ethnicity?
(he'll only be there long enough to get the connecting flight).


katyjane
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:29 pm
  #2  
John Bermont
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Default Re: Security measures?

katyjane wrote:
    > A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun via
    > Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email instructing
    > him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
    > passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).
    >
    > He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I ever
    > have. He's just come back from Brazil and wasn't asked when he booked
    > that flight. Is this something new that all airlines are asking for,
    > or is it an Air Canada thing? Or a Canadian thing? Are they asking
    > everybody, or just people with Muslim-sounding names? (he's of Indian
    > origin - although his name is fairly obviously Hindu to anybody with a
    > smidgin of knowledge about Indian names).
    >
    > He deliberately avoids flights via the USA because of the kind of
    > hassle his nephews have experienced there. Are the authorities in
    > Canada likely to give him particular grief because of his ethnicity?
    > (he'll only be there long enough to get the connecting flight).
    >
    >
    > katyjane
    >

Katyjane,

None of the above. It's an American thing. Flying from Toronto to Cancun
would take him right over the USA. The USA controls who is in the air
over the USA. The information he submits will most likely go straight to
the FBI. They will check him out. If he is clean he will be allowed to
fly. And it doesn't matter if he is Hindu or from Mars. His nephews get
a "hassle" when they fly in or out of the USA? Too bad. We all get a
hassle, in the USA and in Europe. I've been wanded and frisked for
years, long before 9/11. Learn to live with it until the terror bastards
are finished.

John Bermont

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Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:36 pm
  #3  
Rog
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Default Re: Security measures?

"katyjane" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to
    > Cancun via Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he
    > got an email instructing him to telephone a given number
    > tomorrow with his date of birth and passport number (he's not
    > travelling until Xmas!).
    > He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I
    > ever have.
------------------------------
Probably its becuz his 2nd leg is over U.S. airspace and the route
could be dangerously close to home of Jeb Bush (the President's
brother) in Tallahassee, Florida, a/k/a the Governor's Mansion.

BTW, I'm talking a 3N cruise to the Bahamas /from/ Florida, and
the cruiseline similar info for Homeland Security. Next it'll apply
to folks trying to get into Disney. "Var ar yor papers?" =R=


.
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:36 pm
  #4  
Yves Bellefeuille
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Default Re: Security measures?

On Mon, 08 Aug 2005, katyjane wrote:

    > A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun via
    > Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email instructing
    > him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
    > passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).
    >
    > He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I ever
    > have. He's just come back from Brazil and wasn't asked when he booked
    > that flight. Is this something new that all airlines are asking for,
    > or is it an Air Canada thing? Or a Canadian thing?

It's certainly not a Canadian thing. It may be an "overflying the US"
thing, or an Expedia thing ("If Congress had intended for the law to
apply only to the US, it would have said so").

--
Yves Bellefeuille
<[email protected]>
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:38 pm
  #5  
C
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Default Re: Security measures?

In article <[email protected]>,
John Bermont <[email protected]> wrote:
    >None of the above. It's an American thing. Flying from Toronto to Cancun
    >would take him right over the USA. The USA controls who is in the air
    >over the USA. The information he submits will most likely go straight to
    >the FBI. They will check him out. If he is clean he will be allowed to
    >fly. And it doesn't matter if he is Hindu or from Mars.

Different people have different definitions of "clean". If his facial
features are somewhat similar to someone suspicious, or he has ever
traveled to a town that someone suspicious has also visited, or if his
name shares several letters with someone suspicious, then the TSA will
treat him as a suspect. If he matches more than one of these categories,
then he may want to consult with a lawyer before traveling.
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 9:47 pm
  #6  
Katyjane
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Default Re: Security measures?

Wanded & frisked is fine - but I think I would take a detour to avoid
being detained, strip-searched, interrogated so long that I miss my
connecting flight, then having to stay in the airport until I can get
another one no matter how long it takes - without so much as a "sorry
to have kept you". But I'm white, so it probably wouldn't happen.


katyjane
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 10:22 pm
  #7  
Mxsmanic
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Default Re: Security measures?

katyjane writes:

    > A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun via
    > Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email instructing
    > him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
    > passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).

He should telephone Air Canada directly and see what they say. E-mail
cannot be trusted. He should _never_ just telephone a number from an
e-mail and give away personal information.

    > He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I ever
    > have. He's just come back from Brazil and wasn't asked when he booked
    > that flight. Is this something new that all airlines are asking for,
    > or is it an Air Canada thing? Or a Canadian thing? Are they asking
    > everybody, or just people with Muslim-sounding names? (he's of Indian
    > origin - although his name is fairly obviously Hindu to anybody with a
    > smidgin of knowledge about Indian names).

He has already called the number??
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 10:23 pm
  #8  
Mxsmanic
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Default Re: Security measures?

katyjane writes:

    > But I'm white, so it probably wouldn't happen.

So are Arabs and most Muslims, but that doesn't help them.
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 10:25 pm
  #9  
Mxsmanic
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Default Re: Security measures?

Rog' writes:

    > BTW, I'm talking a 3N cruise to the Bahamas /from/ Florida, and
    > the cruiseline similar info for Homeland Security. Next it'll apply
    > to folks trying to get into Disney.

It already does. Disney started requiring fingerprint scans for
people entering their parks in central Florida this summer.
 
Old Aug 8th 2005, 11:23 pm
  #10  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: Brazil
Posts: 2
spanishinquisition is an unknown quantity at this point
Cool Re: Security measures? No Fly & Air Canada

Just back from canada.

They are developing their own no-fly list and are in a paranoid terrorist flap.

http://news.google.ca/news?&q=no+fly

By the way I just had my worst worst airline experience with Air Canada. I mean expectation unmatched by service - it's hard to match Sudanese Airways for sheer terror.

Connecting flights did not connect and we were stranded in brothel-class lodgings on the wrong side of the Airport for two days with vouchers that were less than the minimum required. The 'hotel' staff recounted many similar recent horror stories.

Air Canada is a veritable Haiti of a company that delivers to the standards of Torquay United with the honesty of residents of Pentonville nick. Never again.


SI
spanishinquisition is offline  
Old Aug 8th 2005, 11:36 pm
  #11  
Dwayne
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Default Re: Security measures?

"katyjane" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    >A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun via
    > Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email instructing
    > him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
    > passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).
    > He's never been asked this before, and I can't remember that I ever
    > have. He's just come back from Brazil and wasn't asked when he booked
    > that flight. Is this something new that all airlines are asking for,
    > or is it an Air Canada thing? Or a Canadian thing? Are they asking
    > everybody, or just people with Muslim-sounding names? (he's of Indian
    > origin - although his name is fairly obviously Hindu to anybody with a
    > smidgin of knowledge about Indian names).
    > He deliberately avoids flights via the USA because of the kind of
    > hassle his nephews have experienced there. Are the authorities in
    > Canada likely to give him particular grief because of his ethnicity?
    > (he'll only be there long enough to get the connecting flight).
    > katyjane

How aboot this. When I was flying from Sydney to LAX people were not allowed
to stand in groups because the plane was travelling to the USA. Many people
pointed out that we were over International water, but the flight attendants
insisted that they would be fined and/or not allowed to land if the
passengers did not comply. The situation came up due to the line for the
RESTROOM!

Dwayne
 
Old Aug 9th 2005, 12:20 am
  #12  
barney2
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Default Re: Security measures?

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Mxsmanic) wrote:

    > *From:* Mxsmanic <[email protected]>
    > *Date:* Tue, 09 Aug 2005 00:22:11 +0200
    >
    > katyjane writes:
    >
    > > A friend has just booked a flight though Expedia - London to Cancun
    > > via
    > > Toronto on Air Canada. Almost immediately, he got an email
    > > instructing
    > > him to telephone a given number tomorrow with his date of birth and
    > > passport number (he's not travelling until Xmas!).
    >
    > He should telephone Air Canada directly and see what they say. E-mail
    > cannot be trusted. He should _never_ just telephone a number from an
    > e-mail and give away personal information.

That is very good advice indeed.

FWIW it certainly doesn't apply to all airlines going into/over the U.S..
I last flew to New York in April and certainly wasn't asked for a passport
number when buying the ticket. I think d.o.b. might have been requested, I
can't quite remember.


----------------------------------------------
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My new email address is that one, with the first digit of years in the
current century placed after the first word.
 
Old Aug 9th 2005, 1:03 am
  #13  
Mxsmanic
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Default Re: Security measures?

Dwayne writes:

    > How aboot this. When I was flying from Sydney to LAX people were not allowed
    > to stand in groups because the plane was travelling to the USA. Many people
    > pointed out that we were over International water, but the flight attendants
    > insisted that they would be fined and/or not allowed to land if the
    > passengers did not comply. The situation came up due to the line for the
    > RESTROOM!

No country has a monopoly on stupidity.
 
Old Aug 9th 2005, 1:26 am
  #14  
Padraig Breathnach
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Default Re: Security measures?

Mxsmanic <[email protected]> wrote:

    >No country has a monopoly on stupidity.

But some are trying to corner the market.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
 
Old Aug 9th 2005, 1:31 am
  #15  
Frank Clarke
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Default Re: Security measures?

On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 02:26:10 +0100, Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]>
wrote:
<[email protected]>

    >Mxsmanic <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>No country has a monopoly on stupidity.
    >But some are trying to corner the market.

...and doing a damn fine job...


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